Saturday, December 4, 2010

Belgium Court Confirms "Wrongful Life" Lawsuit

A Belgian Court of Appeal has confirmed that parents can sue for "wrongful life" on behalf of their child. In a ruling of September 21, the Court of Appeal of Brussels examined the case of a disabled child who was born after faulty prenatal diagnosis. After noting that "clearly the misdiagnosis did not cause the child's disability, which existed before the error and which could not be remedied," the Court said that, "however, the injury to be compensated is not the disability itself, but the fact of being born with such a disability."

"Thus, the child, represented by his parents, can claim compensation from the doctors who, through their fault, have injured his certain and legitimate interest in being the object of a therapeutic abortion, since they were aware that his mother would have had recourse to this if she had been informed of the condition during her pregnancy."

What justified the reasoning of the court was the current abortion law. "The legislator must have intended to allow women to avoid giving birth to children with serious abnormalities, having regard not only to the interests of the mother but also to those of the unborn child itself." ~ Bulletin de l'IEB, Nov 29